A paper
by Chester et al. was published in the July 2012 issue of Frontiers in
Evolutionary Neuroscience under the title:
"The optimal calibration hypothesis: how life history modulates the brain's social pain network."
This
work presents a novel way of looking at adaptations in the sensitivity of the
"social pain network" throughout the human lifespan.
The
authors start out by reviewing the evidence of overlap between the brain
networks involved in pain perception, and the neural substrates of the
affective response to social threats, such as rejection. Reviewed are the two
neocortical structures which appear to be involved in both. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is thought
to support the affective features of pain, but activation in this region is
also observed in response to perceived social rejection. Similarly, the anterior insula appears to be involved in
affective responses to both physical pain and social rejection.